YUM CHA, Hong Kong

The first stop on our Hong Kong food tour was Yum Cha. The new hot spot in the hustle and bustle of Tsim Sha Tsui. Developed by Dining Workshop, YUM CHA offers Contemporary Chinese cuisine in a vibrant, East-meets-West atmosphere.

We arrived at about midday on a Thursday and the place was packed with families, groups of friends and couples, we immediately felt a buzz around the place. We were quickly shown our table and served a pot of tea. Every detail of the restaurant was decorated beautifully, down to the little fish decorations in the plates.

YUM CHA features an open kitchen where diners can freely observe and interact with the chefs. Throughout the restaurant, a variety of decorative items such as traditional Chinese serving utensils and birdcages appear as a reference to the old teahouses of the past. In juxtaposition to the traditional wares, hexagons are prevalent throughout the décor of YUM CHA to symbolize balance and union. The colors of grey and gold are also key elements seen throughout YUM CHA, to provide a classy yet contemporary feel to the entire restaurant.

We asked the manager for some recommendations and ordered some of the YUM CHA classics, including a kale and pomegranate salad, little piggy pork buns, custard buns, prawn and vegetable dim sum and sticky BBQ chicken wings.

Dining at YUM CHA is made memorable with a number of “camera eats first” moments that arouse both visual interest and your appetite. The little piggy pork buns and the custard buns ticked both those boxes! What impressed us about YUM CHA is that the food not only look great, but it also tasted great! The BBQ sticky chicken wings were a particular favourite, they were juicy, moorish and delicious! When it came to dessert we were recommended “a trio of sexy desserts”, which included a coconut red bean cup, a cotton cloud and peanut sesame dumplings. They arrived in a cloud of liquid nitrogen that turned the heads of everyone in the restaurant. We were blown away by the originality of the presentation and can safely say we have never had a dessert experience quite like it.

If you are in the area of Tsim Sha Tsui and looking for an exciting lunch of delicious dim sum, at a reasonable price,then look no further than YUM CHA!

A massive thank you to the Yum Cha team for kindly hosting us. All opinions expressed are our own.